


Hello

by JunieBug



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Other, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 19:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6342127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JunieBug/pseuds/JunieBug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laurel's been gone for almost 6 years and after one little reunion and finding out about Frank's daughter, her life and all her secrets from the past are brought to light.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Laurel wrapped her scarf around her neck a little tighter, the Philly weather was biting cold. Her snow boots trudged through the dirty slush that used to be pristine white snow; the cup of coffee the only thing that was keeping her remotely warm.

She walked past a couple walking their dog, a jogger who’s music was playing very loudly, and a young woman who she simply nodded at. She got down to the end of the street and there it was, in all it’s glory. Annalise Keating’s house.

She hadn’t been here for six years. She didn’t know if she missed it or not, every memory haunts her every now and again. But it was only for the night.

She walked up the steps towards the front door, her memory flashing her back to a few things. Secret meetings with the Keating Four, argueing with clients, and porch sex.

The last one caused goosebumps to form on her arms. She hadn’t thought about that one in a while.

Shaking the thought from her head, Laurel rang the doorbell. She didn’t have to wait long until Annalise answered the door with a small smile on her face. “Laurel! It’s so good to see you, come in!” Laurel wiped her boots on the rug before entering her old Professor’s house. “It’s nice to see you too.”

She looked past Annalise and found that several other people were already inside the house.

“Come on in, your friends are in the living room. I have to go check something,” She paused and patted Laurel’s shoulder, “I’m so glad you could come.” And with that she was off.

Laurel removed her parka and scarf and hung it up before making her way into the living room. Her smile grew quickly. “Laurel!” Michaela was the first to greet her, followed by the rest of the group.

Connor was sitting next to Oliver, Wes was leaning against the fireplace, Asher was on the arm of the couch, and Michaela and her boyfriend, Caleb, were on the next couch.

“Didn’t think you’d show.” Wes offered her a drink but she shook her head no. She sat right next to Michaela who gave her a quick hug; the previous conversation going back to where it was before.

“Well, Connor and I were thinking the spring but how stereotypical is that?” Oliver quipped, taking a sip from his beer. “Well definitely not right now, Caleb’s sister just got married this past weekend and it was freezing cold and miserable. The pictures were amazing though.”

Laurel smiled, the topic was of course on marriage again.

From almost everything Laurel has kept up with it was all revolved around marriage. Connor and Oliver were in the process of planning a wedding and adoption- Connor said the process of adoption would take years so why not start now?

Michaela and Caleb (yes, Hapstall) were in town for the week because of Catherine’s winter wonderland wedding.

Asher had just proposed to Bonnie months ago because she swore that he would think it was a mistake but he insisted that he was mature enough to know it was real.

That left Wes and herself. Wes was in a new relationship, no one had met her yet but he talked about her non-stop. Laurel was also in a relationship; it was steady, serious, and everything she looked for.

Okay so it was a relationship with work, but she loved it.

After graduating, Laurel and Michaela decided to open a private firm together which allowed the two of them to pick and choose certain cases, much like Annalise. Their tiny little firm grew over the years and so did their friendship- which Laurel was grateful for.

“I think spring would be awesome, Bon and I are thinking about fall next year. What about you Frank?” This snaps Laurel out of her daydream, in the few minutes that she had been out of it, Frank and Bonnie had appeared at the door way.

And it was like a freight train had hit her. Her lips parted slightly and she blinked rapidly as if trying to figure out if he was really standing right there in front of her and he really was. She took in all of him, his usual three-piece suit, everything in place, and it was like he hadn’t aged a single day. It wasn’t until she made eye contact with him did she realize that he was looking at her too, the smirk evident on his face.

“You kidding? I’d rather have a warm wedding than the fall, but hey, I only attend them.” Frank mused, wringing out his hands (he still did that after all these years?) “Yeah, and Frank’s little girl can be in it of course.” Bonnie mentioned.

And that’s when she noticed her. The tiny little thing hiding behind Frank’s left leg, a thumb in mouth and a grip on his pants.

Laurel’s heart stuttered. Frank had a kid.

Frank pulled the little girl up into his arms, causing a little giggle to escape her. “You want to be in Auntie Bonnie and Asher’s wedding?” She simply nodded and looked around the room, her big blue eyes finally landing on Laurel.

She looked just like him. Her eyes the same piercing blue, her chestnut brown hair was up into two pigtails, and her little face chubby but very much Frank.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Michaela giving her a look. “You okay?” She leaned in towards Laurel, whispering to her. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Laurel averted her eyes from the mini version of Frank and looked at Michaela; the sympathy in her eyes so evident.

“I-I…Frank has a kid?” She whispered back to Michaela, turning to face her. Michaela shook her head, of course she didn’t know, she was just as much in the dark as Laurel was. Wes walked over to her and sat down beside her. The rest of the group began to go into their own little conversations.

“Hey, how are you?” Wes asked, nodded his head towards Frank. Laurel’s lips turned into a thin line as she watched Frank steady his kid on his hip as he talked to Connor and Oliver about baby proofing a house.

“It’s a shock I know.” Wes offered her his drink and this time she took it, taking a quick swig before balancing it on her knee. “I-it just…when did it-she, when did she happen?” Laurel’s words stick to her throat just like how the little girl clings onto Frank’s shirt.

“She’s almost three, come this March. Her name is Violet. That’s basically all I know about the kid. The new Keating four take turns watching her sometimes if the daycare is closed. Annalise loves her so she always stays.” Laurel took another swig of her beer, Wes placing his hand on her knee. “We were all shocked about it too Lau, Frank never seemed like the type to want kids.

Wes patted her knee and stood up to go join Asher and Bonnie in whatever conversation they were having.

 _Wes is wrong_ , Laurel thought.

Frank wanted kids. It was one of the things they used to fight over.

Her heart constricted. She shouldn’t be hurt about this. She didn’t want kids so he went out and found someone who did.

Laurel was thrown out of her thoughts suddenly, Annalise announcing that dinner was ready. Laurel got up along with Michaela and Caleb and walked into the dining room with the rest of the group. She sat between Michaela and Wes, Connor directly in front of her. She watched as Frank sat next to Connor, sitting his daughter at a high-chair that was already at the end of the table.

“I want the booster seat, daddy.”

Laurel tried not to watch as Frank kissed the top of his kid’s head and hand her a piece of bread. “There’s not enough seats, pumpkin and this thing isn’t too small.” But she wouldn’t take it and began to pout, the cutest little pout.

“Oh no, there’s the pout.” Asher chortled. Annalise pointed towards the closet behind Frank. “There’s an extra little chair in there Frank.”

The whole table finally settled as soon as Frank sat Violet in her chair. Everyone began passing around the food and going into their own little conversations. Laurel tried to keep her eyes on everything but Frank and his kid.

“So, Michaela, Laurel how’s the firm going?” Annalise asked the two of them. Michaela smiled her signature smile before answering. “It’s going very well. Laurel and I having been getting some very good cases in the past couple of months and it’s been very busy but good.” Michaela handed Laurel the bowl of peas and nudged her at the same time. “Yeah, it’s going great.” Laurel passed the bowl to Wes.

“How are you two liking New York?” Laurel answered this one first while spooning the mashed potatoes on her plate. “It’s beautiful. I love it.”

Michaela shrugged at this. “It’s a little far from home honestly but Caleb and I travel here every couple of weeks so it’s not too bad.” Laurel was constantly alone in New York, Michaela moving out of their shared apartment months ago to move in with Caleb. Annalise smiled at them. “I’m glad it’s going well. How about you, Connor? Oliver? How’re the wedding plans?”

And the conversation went to the couple’s impending nuptials.

—–

Dinner dragged on, Laurel occasionally making comments and adding to the conversation. None of it was in her zone of comfort. It was all weddings and children and things that Laurel never thought of, or wanted to think of.

Every so often she would look up to find Frank helping his daughter out with her food or reprimanding her for not sitting down correctly.

She would look away when he looked up.

About an hour and a half later and some shared stories of the past, Annalise is clearing the table with the help of Wes and Oliver. The rest of the group scatter around the rest of the house. Laurel weaves past a slightly drunk Asher and an arguing Michaela and Caleb (probably about something that was said at dinner) and walks right into a tiny little body.

“Oops, I’m sorry…” The little body thuds to the ground, butt first followed by the first signs of tears. She’s crying. Fat, rolling tears spring from her crystal blue eyes and Laurel doesn’t know what to do. She looks around to find no one who can help her. So her instincts kick in and she kneels down and picks the little girl up.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry I bumped into you, I’m just always so clumsy.” Her voice is soft and warm and she can see the little girl’s face changing from pain to something else.

Laurel smiles, it’s hard not to. Up close she looks even more like Frank.

“See, everything is all okay.” She wipes off any stray tears and stands fully up. The little girl lifts her arms up towards her and sniffles. “Can you pick me up? I wanna hug.”

Laurel almost doesn’t want to but then she looks down at her and can’t say no to that face. She pulls her up and situates her on her hip. After a few seconds, the little girl starts talking to her. “I’m Violet. Whas your name?” Her little fists grasp onto Laurel’s shirt. “I’m Laurel. It’s nice to meet you Violet.” Violet smiles a big, cheeky grin and giggles and Laurel can’t help but giggle too.

“There you are!”

The two both look towards the voice. It’s Frank. He’s holding a cookie in his one hand and a smile is plastered onto his face. “Made a new friend?” He steps forward, handing the cookie to Violet and smiling at Laurel. She almost can’t breathe with how close he is to her.

“Yeah daddy, her name’s Laurel.” The two adults chuckle as she says Laurel’s name. It comes out as Law-el more than anything. “Oh I know, she’s an old friend.” Frank turns to face her, his grin growing.

She hasn’t seen him in years but they certainly have been good to him. There’s a small hiccup in their conversation as Violet stuffs her little cheeks with the cookie. Laurel finally looks up at Frank, who has been looking at her this whole time.

How could he not?

She’s holding his kid and standing in the hallway of their old stomping ground. Before she loses her courage she opens her mouth and blurts the first thing that comes to her.

“Hello.”


	2. Chapter 2

Laurel feels like she’s in some weird, alternate universe sitting next to Frank and his kid on Annalise’s couch. 

Frank’s given her another cookie that she’s currently in the process of devouring. There is a good distance between them but Laurel still feels like she only inches away from him.

After some time Frank tries to strike up a conversation with her. “So, how are you?” It’s casual and just small talk but for Laurel it’s more than that. She hasn’t even uttered a word to him in six years and now here they are.

“I’m great. How about you?” Frank’s slightly shaking his knee causing Violet to bounce up and down. “A little busier than usual but I’m pretty good.”

There’s a weird silence between them. It’s only broken when Violet jumps off of her dad’s knee and runs up to Bonnie, who is at the doorway of the living room. Bonnie automatically picks up Violet and smiles. “There’s ice cream in the kitchen if anyone wants any.” She offers, looking over at Frank and Laurel.

The two are quick to say no but Violet is happily saying yes. “Vi, you’ve already had two cookies.” 

But there’s the pout again and her big puppy dog eyes and Laurel realizes that Frank can’t say no to her. 

“Alright, only a little,” and before Bonnie takes her away he adds, “Bonnie, I’m serious. I actually want her to go to bed tonight.” Bonnie nods taking away a very giggly Violet. 

Laurel shifts in her seat. They’re alone now. 

“She looks just like you.”

Frank looks over at her and smiles. “Yeah? I dunno, sometimes I think she looks like her ma.” 

Oh yeah, she exists. Maybe she’s not here because of work? Laurel begins to wonder what type of girl Frank ended up with. Is she a lawyer too? She must be beautiful. And smart. And everything Laurel wasn’t. 

She’s not insecure. No, Laurel has never ever been insecure of what she has but suddenly there’s a mystery woman that she can’t help but compare herself to. 

“Oh, she couldn’t make it tonight?” She says this a little quieter than she wanted. Frank begins messing with his beard before he answers her. “Uh, yeah, she hasn’t been able to make anything for the past 3 years.” He says it jokingly and it takes Laurel off guard. “Oh...I’m sorry, I didn’t kn-” 

“It’s okay. How could you know?” 

The question literally makes her feel sick. 

How could she know? She hasn’t been around for years. She hasn’t attended any of the other dinners hosted by Annalise. She only occasionally sent texts to the other members of the Keating 5 to see what they were up to but she never sent one to Bonnie or especially not Frank. 

Laurel’s about to respond but like by the grace of god she’s interrupted by a tiny little scream. 

“Daddy!” Frank’s composure immediately shifts, the smile never leaving his face. 

A very hyper and messy Violet wrangles her way into the space of the couch between Frank and Laurel. 

“Auntie Bonnie got me chocolate ice creams.” She has a sticky residue of ice cream around her mouth. Frank gets up and shakes his head. “Okay, ice cream monster, I’m getting you a wet nap to clean your face off.” 

And before he heads off, he turns to Laurel. “You don’t mind watching her real quick?” She’s already shaking her head no before he can even finish the question.

He walks off to find a napkin for Violet and she’s left again with the little girl. “I’m gon be in Auntie Bonnie’s wedding.” She says proudly, sitting up on her knees and facing Laurel. Her little thumb goes straight into her mouth.

“Oh, really? You’re gonna wear a pretty dress and have your hair all done up too?” Laurel asks. She simply nods and touches her hair with the hand that isn’t in her mouth. 

“Daddy doesn’t know how to make my hair pretty.” Everything she says is slightly mumbled because of her thumb in her mouth but it also makes everything slightly cuter. 

“You’re hair is pretty today.” Violet just shakes her head no and begins pulling the hair bands out of her pigtails. “Daddy never makes it look like Elsa. I want it to be like Elsa.” Her hair puffs out after being in the pigtails. Laurel can barely contain her laughter. 

“Can you do hair pretty? I wanna be like Elsa, please.” Violet climbs into Laurel’s lap before she can protest and turns herself around so that the back of her little head is facing Laurel. “I-um, sure. I’ll try my best okay?” 

It feels weird to have a tiny little body sitting in her lap. It’s been a while. 

She begins to run her fingers through Violet’s soft hair and starts to braid it. It’s not long enough to go all the way down her shoulders but Laurel tries her best to make it as Elsa-ish as possible. 

The whole time it’s happening, Violet is jargoning. 

Her topics go from My Little Pony to what she had for lunch to her favorite color. “My daddy always members to pack me snack at daycare. He’s the best daddy in the whole wide world!”

Yeah, Frank is probably the best dad. The little details of Frank’s personality make it so he is. Laurel can’t help but think about it. He’s protective and caring and willing to do anything for the people he loves. He makes a great dad. 

He appears a few seconds later at the door holding a wet nap in his one hand.

He walks over the couch and stands in front of Violet and Laurel, his leg slightly bumping her knee. He bends forward and wipes Violet’s mouth and she just giggles and squirms in Laurel’s lap. 

“Daddy, Laurel maded my hair pretty.” She begins showing off her hair to her dad and Frank pats the top of her head. “It's beautiful munchkin.” Frank takes a seat where he was before. 

Violet crawls off Laurel’s lap and plants her feet on the ground and before she disappears somewhere in the house she looks at Laurel and says a shy little thank you. 

Frank chuckles. “She's probably gonna try and ask Annalise for another cookie.” Laurel smiles. “She's got a sweet tooth like you.” Frank nods and she takes the time to adjust her skirt that Violet bunched up.

“Guess she's got the best of all my traits.” 

“Yeah, she does.” _Makes it harder not to love her._ Laurel chews on her bottom lip. This whole night she can't stop being restless.  

Violet can be heard squealing throughout the house. She runs past the living room followed by the slightly wobbly Asher who is chasing after her. 

“She likes doucheface though, nothing like me.” They both chuckle. 

Suddenly Laurel feels comfortable and they begin to chat. They chat about work and Laurel talks about New York and Frank jokes about Annalise and Bonnie still being the same. 

They chat for what feels like forever until Violet comes toddling towards Frank. Her little fists are rubbing her eyes. 

“Daddy, is it time for beddy?” Frank lifts Violet up and she settles into his chest. “Yeah, it's probably time to go.” Violet is looking over at Laurel who gives her a tiny wave. “Nice to meet you Laurel.” 

Laurel’s smile grows, of course she'd be the most well-mannered little girl. “It was really nice to meet you too Violet.” 

She stands up and begins to walk over to the kitchen where she hears everyone else. She turns around to see Frank struggling to get up from the couch while still holding on to Violet. 

“A little help?” He grimaces. She walks back and holds out her hand only to have Violet turn around and lift her arms at her. 

Laurel hesitates, but only for a second, before pulling her up into her arms. Frank stands and Laurel's ready to hand her back but Violet snakes her arms around Laurel’s neck and buries her face into her chest. 

Frank's about to try and pull her off but Violet tightens her grip around Laurel. “She's a level 5 clinger.” He laughs, ignoring Laurel’s look of distress and begins walking into the kitchen where the rest of the group are. 

Everyone stops their chatting to look up at Frank and Laurel. Frank ignores the stares and quickly goes around to start saying his goodbyes to everyone. “Are you leaving already? It’s only 9:30!” Asher yells out to Frank. “Yeah, we gotta head home. Violet’s about to pass out.” He laughs and Annalise gets up and walks over to Laurel. She smiles and kisses the top of Violet’s head and rubs her back.

“Taking Ms. Castillo here too?” Laurel looks over at Annalise and she realizes that she’s talking to Violet, not Frank. 

But Frank answers anyway. “What? No, I just couldn’t stand up with her in my arms and you know Violet, clings to anyone.” His explanation goes ignored and Michaela narrows her eyes at Laurel. Laurel gives her a look back. It’s the _this isn’t what it looks like_ type of look.  

But Laurel still feels like she’s just committed a crime standing there holding onto Frank’s kid and everyone just eyes her and then Frank and her again because they know their history. 

Laurel tries to pretend like she doesn’t notice and walks with Frank to the door and ultimately to his car. He opens the back door for her and sees the car seat and several little toys on the car floor. Violet has fallen asleep and she simply puts her in the car seat and buckles her up. 

“Thanks, can’t believe she fell asleep with all the sugar she had.” They’re standing face to face and Laurel can see his breath in the air. She rubs her arms and gives a little shrug. “No problem.” And then it’s awkward again because she doesn’t know if he’s gonna try and hug her or not; or if she should hug him. 

But nothing happens. He simply says goodbye and walks to the driver side of his car and gets in. He rolls down the window of the passenger seat and calls to her. “Hey, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Laurel opens her mouth to say something but blanks so he just gives her a wave and begins to drive away. 

 _Oh shit._  

She forgot about tomorrow. She runs a hand through her hair and realizes that she can’t spend another day, or even an hour, around Frank again.


	3. Chapter 3

Laurel’s trudging up the steps of Annalise’s house once again.

It’s barely 10 o’clock but Annalise had asked her to come in early and come talk to the new Keating Four to talk about life after Law school and opening up a private firm.

Michaela was supposed to be there with her but she flaked out last minute.

_“I told Caleb I would go with him to his financial meeting.” Laurel just looked at her and shook her head. “He doesn’t need you at this meeting, he can do fine on his own. Please don’t let me go alone.” Laurel hated begging anyone for anything. “He needs a second opinion about his parents’ money.”_

_“But his parents are dead…” Laurel mumbled. Michaela gave her a stern look and sighed. “I know that, but it’s about the split up of property between him and Catherine and I promised him I would go. I’m sorry.”_  

And that was the end of that because Laurel knows she can’t win with Michaela especially when it came to Caleb.

So she was going to have to face four wide-eyed, idealistic first year Law student alone...and Frank. Who she was trying so hard to clear out of her head because she was confused. Did she still have feelings for him? Some part of her knew that she would always have feelings for the first, and if she was being honest, only man that she’d ever really loved. 

 _Fuck._ She couldn’t think about that right now. Instead she shook her head and walked over to the door and opened it using the key that Annalise had given all of them years ago.

She walked into a very quiet house. The living room was empty sans a few boxes of files and leftover Chinese takeout on the table. She peeked into Annalise’s office and found no one. And then she heard voices in the kitchen, a little squeaky giggle and a rough, deep laugh and she automatically knew who they belonged to.

She followed where it was coming from and walked into the kitchen where she saw Frank, with his back to her, standing and Violet sitting on the space next to him on the counter. Frank was busy making a snack and Violet was kicking her feet back and forth. She stopped giggling the second she saw Laurel and her eyes lit up.

“Laurel!” She screamed and began prodding her dad as she shouted over and over, “Laurel’s here daddy!”

Frank swiftly turns around, a smile already on his face. She’s smiling back at the two of them. “Hey, what’re you doing here?” He asks and hands Violet the plate of cut apple slices to her before picking her up to place her back on the ground. She walks up to Laurel and just stands there looking up at her. “I, uh, came here to talk to the students. Annalise asked me to…” Frank cuts her off. “She sent them out to do some emergency work for the case.”

Laurel furrows her eyebrows together in confusion. “You didn’t get the text message?” Frank shakes his head. “I really gotta remind Annalise about this stuff.”

“It’s okay, I didn’t have much planned today anyways.” She can feel Violet still staring up at her. “What are you planning on doing today Violet?” She finally acknowledges her and bends forward slightly to be closer to her.

“Daddy is taking me to the park today.” She answers happily and looks over at Frank. He’s scratching the back of his head and walks up to Violet and picks her up. “Honey, I don’t think I can take you today. Daddy has a lot of work and this case is really important to Auntie Annalise. But the daycare will be fun.” He looks extremely guilty when he says it and Violet’s wide grin changes to a quivering frown.

“Bu-But but you promised you would take me to the park!” Frank begins rubbing her back, trying his best to stop the tears from falling. “I know, I know. But I promise to take you some other time.” Frank is bouncing her up and down now but nothing is working. Violet is silently crying into Frank’s shoulder and Laurel suddenly can’t take it.

“I’ll take you Violet.”

Violet pops up and turns to look at her. Frank is also looking at her but his expression is more of a confused one than anything else. Because he knows and Laurel knows that kids aren’t her thing. But she can’t stand _this_ little girl crying and she definitely can’t handle an upset Frank so she’s doing stupid shit for him. 

“You don’t have to, I mean I can just take her to daycare and she’ll be fine and…” Laurel holds up her hand effectively stopping Frank. “I don’t mind. I don’t have anything to do all day now that the students are gone.” Frank still looks reluctant. 

But Violet sure isn’t. She’s squirming in her dad’s arms now and reaching out to Laurel. 

Laurel looks at Frank who hands Violet over like she’s a bomb ready to go off. But Violet is squealing with happiness to be going to the park and she begins twirling a strand of Laurel’s hair with her tiny finger. “Thank you so much Laurel!” 

Laurel’s smiling and looking over at Frank. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, now what do I need to take her to the park?” She knows that if Frank protests again she really will change her mind. But instead he walks towards the front of the house and grabs the car seat that’s sitting by the door. “You need this in the car.” She looks at him and the car seat curiously. “We keep an extra one here just in case she needs to ride with some else, like right now.”

They walk out to Laurel’s car and she unlocks it, allowing Frank to situate the car seat in the back. It only takes him a few minutes to do so. “Wait right here.” He says holding up his hand as if it’ll keep her in place. Laurel watches him run back into the house only to come back out with Violet’s little backpack.

He hands it over to her. “It’s got her extra clothes. She’s got asthma so her inhaler is in there too. She knows how to use it.” He turns to Violet and takes her from Laurel’s arms. “You gonna be a good little girl for Laurel?” Violet nods her head and kisses his cheek. “Yeah-ya, I promise daddy.” Frank buckles Violet into her car seat and shuts the door before turning back to Laurel. She’s clutching onto the backpack like it’ll tether her to the ground. “You really sure you can take her?” Frank asks one last time. “God, yes Frank, I’ll take her to the park and lunch and bring her back here. I’ll give you a call if I have any trouble.”

And that seems to do the trick, Frank’s face eases. They say their goodbyes, still as awkward as last night, and Laurel gets in the driver side. This time she’s the one driving away with a kid in the back seat.

\---

Violet is probably the easiest kid she’s ever looked after. Well, also that chattiest. But she’d rather take chatty than terrible any day.

The whole car ride to the park only took 10 minutes and in that span of time Laurel has learned more about Violet’s life than she has about anything in a single year of school. But she doesn’t mind because in the process of Violet going on about her life, she’s mentioned Frank too. Like how Frank only works Monday through Thursdays now so that he has a full weekend with Violet. Or how he still takes the time to cook dinner every night for her. Or how he doesn’t have a girlfriend. 

Yeah, that little detail slipped out of Violet’s mouth. And Laurel obviously put that information into the back of her mind.

It had taken Laurel only a few seconds to zip up Violet’s light blue bubble jacket and tug her beanie on her head. And when they reached the park, Laurel did what she’s watched every one of her nannies do when they went to the park and that was to let Violet go off to play while she sat at one of the benches.

Yeah, Violet was a real easy kid to take care of. That is until an hour into her running around Laurel loses sight of her. She only looked down at her phone for a second before she lost her. She’s on her feet and basically running around the park until a high pitched scream hits her.

She runs in the direction of the screaming to find Violet sobbing on the ground with a little boy standing over her. Laurel’s relief washes into anger as she picks up Violet and cradles her. “What happened?” Violet’s incoherent at first until she calms herself down a little enough to speak. “He pushed-ed me off the big slide.”

Laurel looks up to the slide, it’s got to be at least 6 feet tall. She turns to the little boy, her jaw set and eyebrows furrowed. “Why would you push her off of the slide? You know that’s not nice!” She’s trying to restrain herself from yelling, this kid couldn’t be more than 6 years old. “She took too long so I pushed her.”

Suddenly the little boy’s mother appears next to them. “What’s going on?” Laurel glances at the woman, her hair was perfectly curled and her outfit looked like it was picked by a stylist. All at once Laurel realized where this was going. “You’re son just pushed her off of the slide. He could’ve hurt her, broken something!”

The woman pulls her son to the side but keeps her eyes on Laurel. “He probably didn’t mean it. Did you honey?” The woman pushes her sunglasses further up her head and raises her eyebrow at Laurel. And Laurel knows she’s being judged by this woman but she couldn’t give two shits about it because right now she was dealing with a sobbing and possibly hurt toddler and an asshole kid with a mom who isn’t reprimanding her son.

“You need to teach your kid to apologize when they hurt someone!” Laurel’s gritting her teeth as she speaks to this vile woman. “You can’t tell me how to raise my son.” The woman says pointedly and then adds, “Plus, getting hurt builds character.”

If Laurel wasn’t holding on to Violet she would’ve already back handed this lady across the park.

Instead she takes a deep breath and shakes her head at the woman who is already pulling her kid along. Laurel was going to be the bigger person but there’s a sudden lapse in her judgement as the woman and her son walks past them. She sticks out her foot effectively tripping the woman who falls sideways, bringing her kid down too.

“What the hell!? I’m going to sue you for that!” The woman is yelling and trying to get up but Laurel is just laughing. “Sorry, thought getting hurt builds character bitch.”

She quickly walks away with Violet and heads towards her car. Violet has stopped crying and looks at her with a scrunched up face. “Are you okay?” In the small confrontation Laurel’s forgotten about how Violet could be hurt. “Yes but you said a swear word.”

A sigh of relief escapes Laurel’s mouth followed by a giggle. As soon as they reach the car, Laurel is assessing Violet. No broken bones, just a bumped head and a bruised ego.

Laurel quickly decided it was time to head back to the house, gave Frank a call vaguely mentioning what happened, and picked up some lunch on the way back. Laurel has to park her car across the street because several cars are in the driveway and lined up along the front. She grabs the plastic bag with the Tropical Smoothie and hikes Violet up her hip.

Violet clings to her again and her chest tightens. She walks up the porch and it’s a small struggle to open the door but she eventually gets it. Laurel walks into the chaos of the house, the smell of Chinese takeout in the air. She moves towards the living room, peeking in to see if Frank is in there only to find the new Keating 4 searching through files and chatting about the case. They all go silent the second they see her.

“Um, has anyone seen Frank?” The group continues to look at her, not answering. It takes a few seconds of awkward silence before one of the girls answer. “He hasn’t come back yet.” One of the guys chuckle when she answers and Laurel looks over at him. “Of course you would know if Frank’s come back…” He trails off and Laurel knows that this girl must be the new “Frank’s girl.” She blonde and short but very pretty none the less. “Will you tell him I’m in the kitchen when he gets here?”

They all nod their heads and as she’s walking away with Violet,, can hear the jokes and conversation that they have.

_“I’ve never seen her before in my life.”_

_“Maybe she’s Frank’s new girlfriend.”_

_“Maybe she’s Violet’s mom and she got her act together and came back for her.”_

Laurel can’t hear them once she gets in the kitchen. She sits Violet on the counter along with the plastic bag that contains their lunch and walks to the fridge to pull out a bag of peas. “Can I put this on your head Violet?” The little girl pulls away from her as she comes closer. “No! I don want the cold!” Laurel sighs, the bulge on the top of Violet’s head has swelled. “C’mon, it’s not that cold. Besides it’ll help the headache.” Violet reluctantly eases back and finally let's Laurel place the bag of peas on her head. “See, it’s not so bad. And what does Elsa always say? The cold never bothered me anyway…” She sings the little tune to Violet causing her to giggle.

After a while Violet leans into Laurel and rests part of her face on her chest while Laurel keeps her in place with one hand on her back and the other still on the bag of peas on her head. They stay like this for a while and it’s actually comfortable. Soon Violet’s falling asleep.

“It looks good on you.”

The gruff voice comes out of nowhere and Laurel has to awkwardly turn her face in order to see who it came from, even though she knows exactly who.

Frank laughs at her confused expression before saying, “Motherhood, it looks good on you.”  
  
And Frank knows he’s struck a nerve because the second the M word leaves his lips, Laurel is already turning pale and picking up Violet to hand her back to her father. “I-I, Frank...you know how I feel about…” She can’t find her words.

But Frank holds up his hand to silence her. “I know, I’m just saying.”

And that’s the end of that conversation because the two of them both know that the last time they ever talked about _that_ topic ended with Laurel leaving and never looking back. But this time Laurel feels something deep within her gut crawling up her throat and into her head telling her to stay. And she’s never been more scared in her life.


	4. Chapter 4

Laurel ends up having to stay in Philly for the rest of the week, much to her dismay. She hates been in this city because it digs up old, hard memories. But Michaela found a case that Laurel couldn’t say no to and Annalise is also helping out…also to Laurel’s dismay. 

She hasn’t been around the house in two days but today she has to stop by, drop a few things off with Annalise, and try to avoid running into anyone other than her today. But luck is never in Laurel’s favor and the minute she pulls up into the driveway of the house she’s greeted by Frank. “Hey!” He locks his car and walks up to Laurel. “Hi.” 

She’s not feeling the small pleasantries and just wants to get on with the day. “Thought you’d be back in New York by now.” He holds the front door open for her and she thanks him. “I got dragged into a case with Michaela so we’re here for the rest of the week.” They walk past the living  room where the new Keating four eye them, especially the blonde.

“Hey, thanks for everything with Violet by the way, she can’t stop talking about you.” They walk through the house and head towards Annalise’s office. “No problem, she’s so easy to look after.”

Frank’s about to say something else but Annalise interrupts their conversation. “Laurel, I thought Michaela was coming today.” Laurel begins to hand her the file that she’s been holding and speaks up. “Um, yeah she was but she wasn’t feeling well so I thought I’d just get you the files. And if you need anything else for the day…” Annalise takes the file and shakes her head. “No, just make sure you two are at the courthouse on Friday.”

And with that Annalise waves them off and Laurel books it to the front door. She almost makes it before Frank grabs her arm and spins her around. “Hey, gotta leave so soon?” It’s lighthearted and she can tell Frank is trying to keep it that way. 

“Yeah, I have to go run some errands and…” She slowly back into the door so when the conversation ends, it’s a quick escape.

“Have dinner with me Friday night?” He asks it so quickly she barely catches the words, but it’s there and he’s said it. There are a thousand and one reasons why she should say no but one look at Frank, his whole face full of hope, and she can’t do it.

“I-um, don’t know if I’ll be free and I have to fly back early on Saturday and…” She stops herself and sighs. “Yeah, okay. Just one night.” She says it out loud because hopefully it’ll be true. “It’s just a chance to catch up some more.” Frank leans in and Laurel can’t move as his lips touch her cheeks.

He leans back, her face blossoming red and all she can do is say a quick goodbye before hightailing it out of the house. 

—-

Laurel pulls up to the gate of the Hapstall mansion and punches in the code. She drives up the long driveway and runs up the staircase to the front door. Caleb answers the door and smiles and without saying a word points up the stairs.

Laurel climbs up and walks right into Caleb’s room to find Michaela sitting up in bed on her laptop. She looks up and smiles at an exasperated Laurel. 

“I take it the visit went well.” Michaela prods as Laurel flings herself down on the bed next to her. “He kissed me…” She looks up at Michaela who suddenly is on her knees and crawling over towards her. 

“He what!? Laurel, I thought we went over this!” Laurel rolls her eyes. “He kissed my cheek, it doesn’t count.” But Michaela is still judging her.

And she knows why. Because after she ran out of her relationship with Frank, Michaela was there to pick her up from the bars when she was so shit-faced she couldn’t see. 

Or when Laurel had nights where all she wanted to do was cry, Michaela was willing to kick Caleb out of bed so that the two of them could have a sleepover together.

And don’t get Laurel started on when Michaela had to fight Frank when he tried, once, to get back with her. 

Laurel sighs. She can’t go back down this dark, dark road again. “He has a kid now you know…” Michaela says matter-of-factly. Laurel’s glare almost knocks Michaela off the bed. “I’m just saying Lau, you can’t just go back to him and have it be okay because there’s a kid and I know how you are with kids.” 

Laurel pulls the covers over her head, trying to hide from Michaela and her troubles. They sit in comfortable silence for a while, no talking, just thinking, something that they always do. And Laurel appreciates that Michaela is willing to just sit here and not say anything because if she was being honest, she didn’t know what to say. 

“He asked me to dinner Friday night.” Michaela looks over at her. “Are you gonna go with him?” Laurel slowly shakes her head yes and can’t help but feel the overwhelming doubt in her chest.

—-

_It’s easier to take the same car._

And Laurel for some reason agreed. So when Frank picked her up from her hotel building, she had to plaster on a smile. Violet was in the back seat and Frank immediately apologized when she got in the passenger seat for the Frozen soundtrack being played. 

But Laurel waved it off and the car ride didn’t last too long before they were pulling up into the Italian restaurant that Laurel used to love coming to. Frank held the door open for her and after she got out, he helped Violet. 

They were seated within seconds because Frank had called for reservations; a Friday night here was always packed. 

Laurel sits across from Frank and Violet in the booth, the two adults looking over the menu while Violet was quietly coloring the kiddie menu she got. 

After they’ve ordered, Frank strikes up the conversation of the trial that they have just won. It was one of those really personal trials that ended with Laurel having to excuse herself to the bathroom so that she wouldn’t start tearing up in front of people. But it was also one of those trials where she really felt like she was making a difference. 

After a few minutes, Violet looks up from her coloring. “Daddy I wanna sit by Laurel.” Violet starts crawling over her dad but Frank stops her. “No, just stay here.” He sits her back down in the spot she was in before. 

And Violet usually listens to Frank from what Laurel has seen but this time the little girl begins banging her tiny fists on the table. She smashes her crayons and starts kicking her legs under the table. Everyone around them begins to stare. 

“Violet Francesca, you need to calm down and list-” Violet starts screaming her head off, even worse than when she was pushed off the slide. 

Laurel looks at Frank who is desperately trying to calm Violet. “She can sit next to me, I don’t mind.” Laurel has to yell in order for Frank to hear her over Violet’s crying. Laurel leans forward and holds out her arms and as soon as she does this Violet is grabbing for her.

It’s kinda awkward pulling her up but she eventually gets it. Violet automatically stops crying the second she’s seated next to Laurel.

Frank shoots her a look of thanks and hands Violet her coloring menu and whatever crayons are salvageable. Laurel is surprised with how quickly Violet calms down just because she sits next to her. She wipes away the stray tears from Violet’s cheeks and she receives a big, toothy grin. 

She looks over at Frank, his smile matching his daughter’s. And for the first time tonight, Laurel’s smile is just as big.

Their conversations are easy, the food is amazing, and Laurel’s wine is quickly disappearing. They catch up on everything. 

Frank questions Laurel and Michaela actually being friends which she replies by correcting him that they are ‘best friends.’

“Prom Queen, really? She became your best friend?” Laurel chuckles and nods her head. “Yeah, she’s kinda been through everything with me.”

Frank’s expression changes and she can’t really tell to what. “Oh wait, I remember that one time she forced me out of your apartment when we…” He trails off and waits for her to say something. “Sorry about that, she’s small but really feisty.” 

Frank looks over to Violet, who 20 minutes ago fell asleep in Laurel’s lap. “I get feisty.” Laurel looks down at the little girl in her lap then back at Frank. There’s so many questions she wants to ask him. About Violet and how she got here but she knows she can’t. 

“Well, you ready to go? It’s getting pretty late.” Laurel nods and pulls on her jacket before picking up Violet. The little girl clings to her again, like she does every time. They walk outside and walk down the street to Frank’s parked car. 

Their shoulders brush as they walk side by side, their steps in sync. For the first time all night the two of them are silent. And she feels warm and happy and weird. Really weird. In another life Laurel thinks this is how they could have ended up. Laurel rubs Violet’s back and remembers why this life couldn’t be hers. 

But Frank grabs for her hand and she takes it. She slows the pace of her movements and he follows her lead. It’s a loose grip but she still hangs on, dreading the moment she has to let go.


	5. Chapter 5

It’s been a month since Laurel’s been in Philly. Work has been great with Michaela and her winning all of their cases.

It’s also been a month since she’s seen Frank. And she’s kinda glad about it. The mushy feelings are still there and she doesn’t know what to do with them.

So she does what she’s good at doing and pushes her feelings deep, deep down and forgets they even exist.

But Michaela snaps her out of her little dream world when she reminds her that Connor and Oliver’s wedding is coming up. The couple had originally planned for later in the year but had to move it forward for Connor’s grandmother. Michaela and Laurel were given the honor of being part of the wedding too.

The wedding was going to be simple but still classy and the girls picked equally beautiful dresses. Laurel was in an off white, creamy colored knee length dress. Michaela was going to be in a similarly colored dress but it was floor length. They had sent all of their dress details to an equally excited Oliver. 

And Laurel is also excited, honestly she is. No matter how much she hates the topic, she genuinely is excited for them. So packing for this trip to Philly doesn’t seem like a drag. 

She’s halfway done when a knock on the door interrupts her, followed by the jingle of keys, and the click of some heels. “Knock, knock.” Michaela peers into Laurel’s room and smiles. “Hey, I really have to take your key from you seeing as you don’t live here anymore.” Laurel folds a skirt and places it in her suitcase. 

“Please,” Michaela sits at the edge of the bed, “Tell me you’re packing some sexy lingerie for this trip.” Laurel raises her eyebrow at her and chuckles. “And why would I do that?” 

Michaela kicks off her heels and laughs at her. “Post wedding sex is the best.” Laurel rolls her eyes. “Pretty sure that’s saved for the couple getting married…?” But Michaela continues to tease her. “I’m talking about you and Frank, idiot. And how you still have feelings for each other.” 

As much as she wished she could say something to shut Michaela up, there was nothing to say. 

Laurel keeps her mouth shut and just continues to pack. 

“I’m kidding, sorta. Maybe there isn’t anything to worry about.” Michaela starts helping her fold clothes too. “Maybe he found a date to the wedding.”

And suddenly Laurel realized that maybe she didn’t want to go to the wedding after all.

—-

Laurel is a pro at faking it at social events. She loves Connor and Oliver but she hated having to be ‘on’ the whole time.

Michaela thankfully is right by her side and the open bar helps. 

In a span of an hour, they’ve met both Connor and Oliver’s families and extended families and friends and dogs and literally everyone. 

Everyone was nice enough but seeing as it was only the rehearsal dinner, things could change quickly. The wedding planner was also really annoying. She was tiny but extremely loud and shrilly. 

“Okay, I need, um, Lauren. Honey, get in line please.” Laurel shuffled to her place behind Michaela in the procession line and waited. “And her partner. Where’s Lauren’s partner?” She can see Michaela chuckling in front of her. 

Out of nowhere, someone is linking arms with her and standing next to her in line. She’s almost afraid to look up to see who it is.

“Sorry, sorry, had to get a handle on my kid.” 

Laurel sighs and looks up, silently cursing herself. Michaela on the other hand is almost doubled over from laughter. Why couldn’t she get Oliver’s cute cousin as her partner!? The world just loved working against her.

“Perfect, you two look great together. Now who is behind Lauren and Frank!?” The wedding planner moves on.

Laurel tries to ignore the man on her arm right now but it’s extremely difficult when she can see his smug expression in her peripheral. And Michaela still cackling. 

She kicks the back of Michaela’s ankles and this immediately shuts her up. “Don’t blame Prom Queen,” There’s amusement in his voice before he continues, “Hair Gel wanted us partnered together, heard him tell the wedding planner.” 

Laurel opens her mouth to say something but closes it as soon as the procession music starts. And the rest of the rehearsal goes by without a hitch. Laurel lowkey is glad to be with Frank. He knows how she moves and anticipates her movements, something she notices that Oliver’s cousin can’t seem to get with Michaela.

Violet ends up being part of the wedding too. She’s adorable in her role as the flower girl alongside Connor’s nieces. 

They run through the whole thing twice and then move into dinner. Laurel is placed at a table with Michaela, Wes, Asher, Bonnie, and of course Frank and his daughter. 

She thankfully is seated across from them and not next to them. When Connor comes over to greet them, Laurel doesn’t wait to grab his arm and let him know how she doesn’t want to be you know who’s partner. But Connor just laughs and tells her, “Me and Oliver thought you two looked cute together.” And leaves without letting her say another word.

The whole night goes by pretty quickly and Laurel is eventually in bed and her only worries haunt her in her dreams.

—-

“Have you seen my shoes?!” Laurel watches as Michaela runs around the hotel room, looking under the bed, and flipping out. “You’d think she’s the one getting married.” Connor says, fixing his tie. 

Laurel’s been ready, for a half an hour now. And she’s trying to keep herself busy by helping out wherever she can. There’s a knock on the door and Connor shakes his head. “I told Oliver that we can’t see each other before the ceremony.” It’s the first time Laurel’s seen him freak out. 

So she, instead, gets up and gets the door. The smell of familiar cologne hits her before she sees the body it belongs to. 

“Laurel!” A tiny body collides with her legs and firmly grasp them. She looks down to see a very happy Violet. “Hey cutie.” She looks up at Frank and smiles. “Just dropping her off, you’re apparently doing her hair.” Laurel furrows her eyebrows in confusion and then remembers her promise to the little girl. 

“Right, yeah.” Violet runs into the room and they stand there for a few seconds before Frank waves and heads down the hall to his room. 

Laurel walks back inside the room and finds Violet sitting on the bed. She picks up the hair curler and lifts Violet’s chin garnering a little giggle from her.

—-

“She loves her hair by the way. It’s pretty adorable.” Laurel hooks her arm around Frank’s. The wedding planner moves them back a few steps and begins yelling at someone behind them. Frank leans in and whispers in her ear. “You also look beautiful, if I haven’t told you yet.” 

Not even the makeup on her face can hide her blush. The music begins and soon Frank and Laurel are at the end of the aisle and they take their spots. The wedding is pretty quick and informal and Laurel’s tearing up at the vows. 

She knew Oliver would tear up during the ceremony but she’s surprised when Connor’s voice breaks when he reads out his vows to Oliver. 

“Connor, Oliver, I hope everyone in this room finds love the way you two have.” Oliver’s uncle, who is officiating, says. And at that moment, Laurel looks up and makes direct eye contact with a grinning Frank.


	6. Chapter 6

She wakes up to the blinding light coming from the sunbeams through the shades. Her head is throbbing and the memories from last night are blurred. Laurel shifts to adjust herself in bed when she feels the arm slung over her side, the hand ghosting her stomach. 

_What. The. Fuck._

She stills and listens to the breathing next to her. She clamps her eyes shut the moment she realizes who it is, of course she would, she’s woken up so many times next to him. 

She tries to think back to how in the world she got here but everything meshes in her mind. The wedding. And drinking at the reception. And watching Frank dance with Violet. And then him asking her to dance. And she drank some more. And some more…

They didn't….did they? 

She looks down at the oversized shirt she’s wearing and the underwear she thankfully still has on. If they did, she can’t remember shit. 

Suddenly she feels a shift in the bed and realizes that he’s getting up. She shuts her eyes quickly, feigning sleep. She hears him walk into the bathroom and after a few seconds, turns on the shower. 

She takes this time to really think about last night and how the hell she got here. The sound of tiny footsteps interrupt her thoughts and she looks over the bed to see Violet. She’s rubbing her eye with one hand while she sucks her thumb.

“Daddy…?”

 Laurel leans over and smiles at Violet. “Laurel! Can I be with you?” Laurel sits up and pulls Violet up in bed with her and the little girl curls up in her chest. “Where’s daddy?” 

Violet looks up at her with a little pout. “He’s showering,” she pauses then adds, “Did you have fun last night?” Violet nods her head quickly and all of a sudden Violet turns to face Laurel and her grubby hands grasp Laurel’s cheeks. 

“You’re pretty.” 

And if Violet didn’t have her heart before, she certainly does now. 

“I think you’re prettier.” Laurel boops Violet’s nose causing her to giggle. Violet let’s go of her face and snuggles back into Laurel’s body. And Laurel feels warm and calm and for some reason okay with what’s happening. And she also feels hungover, but she ignores the growing headache and just plays with Violet’s curls. 

Frank appears out of thin air just then, Laurel never heard the shower turn off or the door open. “Hey, I see you met my morning cuddle bug.” 

Violet beams at her dad and Frank kisses her forehead. “Daddy, can Laurel stay for breakfast?” Frank looks at her. “Well, sure but only if Laurel wants to stay.” 

“Please Laurel, please!” The puppy-dog eyes are in full effect but Laurel has made up her mind. “Of course I’ll stay for breakfast.” 

The little girl jumps up and climbs out of Laurel’s lap and down the bed. She heads towards the bedroom door and turns to look back at her dad. “Make sure you call cakes.” And she runs off into the living area in the hotel room.

“Cakes? Is that a person or the food?” Laurel stretches her arms up over her head and tilts her head to the side to look at Frank. “It’s pancakes, she loves to eat pan-” 

“Did we have sex last night?” 

She can tell it takes him off guard but she needs to know. She feels a surge of confidence in asking the question especially since there are no little ears around. Frank scratches his beard before he answers her.

“No…” There’s a pregnant pause. “But you really wanted too.” Frank’s big laugh takes up the room but it’s silence immediately when Laurel glares at him.

“Alright, you got really drunk last night and I was taking you to your room but you forgot your key somewhere. I just figured you wouldn’t mind stayin’ here.” 

Laurel can vaguely remember the events of last night. She struggled to walk, clinging to Frank as they made their way back to her room. She can barely remember the struggle that the two of them had to find her key and just giving up for the sake of a sleeping Violet. 

“Was it that bad? Was  _I_  that bad?” One look at Frank and she knew his answer. “On a scale of one to trying to take my pants off…? Yeah, it was pretty bad.” Laurel groans and hides her face with her hands. “I didn’t even think I had that much.” 

“Didn’t even know you still liked me like that, light weight.” 

She leans back in the bed and continues to hide her face with her forearm. She only takes one small peak at Frank. “I’m sorry. Holy shit, that’s so embarrassing.” But Frank lays down next to her in the bed and looks over at her. 

“Hey Laurel…hey, look at me.” Laurel uncovers her face and turns to face Frank, blue meeting blue. 

“I really wanted to, y’know, too but we were both drunk and you haven’t even taken me out to dinner yet.” She rolls her eyes but she can’t help but smile. The air shifts between then suddenly, the two of them just looking at each other. 

“I’m serious. Why don’t we go out on a real date?” She raises her eyebrow at him. “Just you and me?” Frank gives her a little nod and answers, “Yeah, just you and me. Kid free.” 

A few weeks ago Laurel would have put down her foot, crossed her arms, and stuck up her chin to say no to Frank. She would have told him that she had no lingering or growing feelings for him. She would’ve told him that she hated kids and didn’t care about how cute Violet was. 

But now, now she wasn’t sure she could say all of that. 

“Daddy! Cakes!” 

Their moment is interrupted with Violet running back into the room and screaming for breakfast. Frank sits up and jumps out of bed. He grabs his squealing daughter and before he walks out of the room he looks back at her. “Dinner, you and me?”

Laurel simply gets up on her elbow to look at him. “Yeah, okay.”

—

“Have you ever tried to plan a three-year-old’s birthday party? I didn’t know that many cartoon characters existed.” 

Laurel twirled her spaghetti onto her fork. She hadn’t been to this restuarant in years and Frank had done the impossible and got a reservation. Frank was on the topic of trying to plan for Violet’s upcoming birthday. 

“I mean, I guess I’ve done this now for a few years but Annalise and Bonnie always helps out. They got her a pony last year.” Laurel almost choked on her food, the smile growing on her face. “You got her a pony?” Frank raised an eyebrow. “We rented a pony and you don’t get to say shit, Princess Laurel Caviar Castillo.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, first I got my pony when I was six, not two. And second, I think you’d be great at planning her party.” 

“You know I suck at planning anything,” He pauses to laugh and then, “You’re gonna be there right?” They hadn’t talked about much this dinner other than Violet and to Laurel traveling and work seemed like distant things. “She’d be really happy if you went. I’d be too.” 

He grabs for her hand and she lets him take it. “I-I’d have to look at my schedule and see-” Frank just nods but still holds on to her hand. “It’s gonna be hard, Frank. If- if you want to still try this out.”  

This. 

Laurel knew how hard  _this_  was going to be. She knew how much history was between them and what the two of them had to do in order for it to work. They both would have to work for it. 

They talked about a possibility of their relationship all day yesterday. It had been serious enough but just like any other conversation that they had, it turned to joking around. But underneath the jokes, she knew how serious their conversations really were.

“Of course I do. Y’know how hard it was to try and forget you?” Her nose scrunches up, Frank was such a sap. 

“Sides, Vi loves having you around. Pretty sure she’d date you if she even knew what that meant.” Their laughs engulf their little bubble and Laurel can’t think of a single thing that can burst it.


	7. Chapter 7

Laurel wakes up to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes and freshly brewed coffee coming from the kitchen. She buries her face in the comforter before stretching out her back. 

And just like clockwork the padding of soft little feet on the carpeted floor breaks the silence of the room. 

“Mornin’ La-La! Daddy says it’s breakfast.” Laurel grabs Violet up into the bed and kisses her cheek. 

It’s become a thing for her to spend the weekends that she’s in Philly at Frank’s. She and Michaela had come up with a weird sort of schedule in which one would head home to Philly every other weekend while the other would stay in New York. 

_Home._

Yeah, Philly felt like home again. 

“I maded you a big pancake La-La.” Violet interrupts her thoughts and she smiles at the little nickname that Violet had affectionately given to her. “You did? Alright birthday girl, let’s go eat breakfast then.”

It was technically Michaela’s weekend this week, but since Violet’s birthday was on Saturday, Michaela gave it to Laurel. She arrived in Philly Thursday night.

With Violet on her hip, she walks into the kitchen to find Frank in an apron placing pancakes onto a plate. “Hey you two. Breakfast is on the table.” Laurel sits down, Violet still in her lap. The two of them share a plate of giant pancakes, Frank eventually joining them. 

“Vi, what do you think about going to the aquarium today? An early birthday celebration.” Violet nearly jumps out of Laurel’s lap in excitement and squeals. “I think that’s a yes.” Laurel laughs trying to get Violet to settle back down. 

Violet jumps out of Laurel’s lap and starts to run towards her room. “La-La will you do my hair pretty?” 

Laurel barely nods before Violet has her signature smile on her face and skip into her room. 

Laurel turns to look at Frank, their smiles matching. Frank gets up, picking up the dirty dishes, and walks over to Laurel. He kisses her cheek and begins to walk away but she grabs his arm instead. 

She leans up and kisses his lips, tasting the sticky sweet syrup and chocolate lingering on them. 

She stands up and wraps her arms around his neck, the two of them doing a little dance as Frank tries to set the dishes down in the sink. 

He leans down and captures her lips again and before Laurel can pull away Frank is pulling her closer with one hand on her back and the other on her ass. She lifts up onto her tippy-toes to lean in even closer to him. 

It takes her a few seconds, okay minutes, to finally pull away from Frank. “Okay, let’s not keep the birthday girl waiting.” He gives her a look but before he can protest she takes his face in her hands and kisses him one last time. “I’ll go help her get ready, ‘kay?” 

She gives him one last look before she heads over to Violet’s room. 

—

“It’s Nemo!” Violet’s grubby little hands are planted directly onto the glass of the giant tank. Laurel moves closer to her and smiles. 

Violet follows the fish to where they swim and turns her head back to look at Frank and Laurel. “La-La there’s ‘tingrays.” She runs over to the stingray petting tank and Frank and Laurel follow her, hand in hand. 

“She loves you more than she loves me now, you know.” 

Frank brings up their conjoined hands and kisses the back of her hand. Laurel is rolling her eyes but still keeps smiling. She watches as Violet climbs the bench and reaches out to pet a stingray. 

“Believe me, us Delfinos just can’t help falling in love with you.” Her heart stutters. They haven’t been together long and even though they’ve had such a long history together, the word still makes her dizzy. 

But it’s starting to feel normal again, like she actually can stay this time. She can’t say it’s been easy. Violet’s accidently slipped up once and called her ‘mommy’ and Laurel couldn’t come around for a while. 

Frank had to remind Violet who Laurel was and what she was not allowed to call her. From then on ‘La-La’ was Laurel’s official nickname. Frank mentioned once that maybe one day Violet could call her mommy but Laurel shot that down very fast. 

It wasn’t mentioned ever again. 

Frank releases her hand and walks to his daughter. He hoists her up and helps her reach for the stingrays. 

Laurel walks up beside them, rolls up her sleeve, and leans forward to pet the stingrays too. Violet squeals when the stingrays graze her hand and she jolts back occasionally when she’s surprised. She ends up splashing Laurel when she does so.

Laurel gives her a little splash back causing Violet’s uncontrollable giggle. They play with the stingrays for a while until Violet gets bored with them. 

They continue to walk through the endless exhibits and at one point Violet is reaching up to be carried by Laurel. She hikes her up and Violet rests her chin on Laurel’s shoulder. 

And just as she’d suspect, Violet begins to drift off into sleep. Laurel rubs her back while they finish through the aquarium. They end up in the gift shop and Laurel tries to rouse Violet awake.

“Hey silly girl, we finished.” Violet rubs her eyes and looks around. “Can I get toys?” Frank comes up behind them and nods. “Sure baby, get whatever you want.” 

Laurel places Violet down and she waddles over to the different selection of toys. At the end of 10 minutes, Violet has an arm full of random little toys and knick-knacks. 

“Frank, you aren’t getting her all of that are you?” But Laurel should have known better because she was talking about Frank and his daughter. “It’s her birthday Lau.”

“You spoil her so much.” She smirks as they follow around the little toddler. “Alright, Princess.” Frank mocked back. 

They finish their day at the aquarium, Violet lugging around a huge bag filled with toys. 

—

They stop by Annalise’s house to drop off a few things for the party. Frank’s apartment is still too small to host one so Annalise has offered her house every year for it.

The three of them walk into the house just in time to find the new K4 getting ready to leave. 

“How’d the trial go?” The dark haired boy, who Laurel still doesn’t know the name of, looks up at them and frowns. 

“Lost, airhead here forgot to tell our key witness that the trial was today so we lost the minute they knew he wasn’t there.” Airhead refers to the blonde that has a thing for Frank. And she just keeps her head down as she passes by. 

“You’re all airheads. Miss Castillo’s class wasn’t even as idiotic as you.” Annalise appears, her eyebrows burrowed but the second she sees Violet she eases up. “I’ll see you all Monday.” 

Annalise reaches out and takes Violet from Laurel’s arms and squeezes her and kisses her cheek. “Happy almost birthday Violet.” Violet kisses her cheek back and laughs. 

That’s also another weird thing that Laurel still isn’t used to. Annalise’s love for Violet sometimes overwhelms her but it makes sense. Bonnie isn’t even like that with Violet.

But she understands the relationship and Annalise deserves her title as godmother to Violet. 

Frank carries a bag of goody bags and decorations to the back of the house, leaving Laurel, Annalise and Violet alone together in the living room.

“I thought it was Michaela’s weekend, she was supposed to come help with the case.” Laurel turns to Annalise, her one eyebrow raised. “I-um, she gave me this weekend so I can be here for Violet’s party.” 

She feels judged. Well, she always feels judged around Annalise, but this is more intense and she doesn’t know why.

“That’s nice,” She pauses and Laurel can tell she’s gauging what she should say next to her, “Just- just don’t leave again.” 

Annalise’s eyes go soft. Laurel looks over at Violet, who is too busy playing with a new toy, and then back at Annalise. 

“He was a mess when you left. And now he isn’t. Don’t leave again.” It’s not a request, it’s a statement; like she has no options. “And if you do leave,” Annalise inhales, “Don’t come back. It’ll be harder, because of her.” 

Annalise pecks Violet’s cheek one more time and hands her back over to Laurel. Violet latches on like a koala to a tree.

“I won’t, I-I promise.” She squeezes Violet and realizes that she couldn’t let this little girl go. 

“Good, you’re good for them.” 

Suddenly Annalise does something that surprises her and leans forward and hugs her, tightly. Violet squirms until Annalise lets them go, when she pulls back there’s a smile on her face. 

“Besides, Frank can’t handle raising a little girl all on his own.” Laurel says even though her heart clenches when she says it.


	8. Chapter 8

Laurel has never experienced so many screaming and excited little children in her whole life. 

She picks up a tiny fake flower and weaves it into the flower crown that she’s currently in the process of making. Today was the perfect day for an outdoor party. It was an unseasonably warm March afternoon and everyone was outside, enjoying the party.

She looks over at Frank, a flower crown sideways on his head, as he chases Violet through a sprinkler. Her smile stretches from ear to ear when Frank looks over at her and waves. Violet looks up at her too and runs over, her hair and swimsuit soaking wet.

“Did you made my flower crown La-La?” Laurel picks up one more tiny flower and sticks it on the crown and places it on top of Violet’s head. “Thank you.”

She runs off and joins her daycare friends and shows off her new crown to the other toddlers. 

Frank walks over to her and kisses her cheek. “Hey fairy princess, how’s the barbeque going?” She asks, laughing.

Frank rolls his eyes at her and readjusts the crown on his head. “I’d only be wearing this for her. She made it earlier and I thought it was for her but it’s actually for me.” Laurel looks up at the crown and notices how every flower it crooked and batched together.

“It’s cute and it makes her happy.” And if there was one thing that the two of them wanted the most today it was to make that little girl happy.

The two of them look over at Violet and watch as she runs through the sprinklers with her friends. They giggle when she cups her hands together and dumps water on an unsuspecting Asher. 

“I’ll go get more drinks out.” Laurel gets up and begins to walk over to the back patio door. Frank grabs her arm first and pulls her into a hug. She looks up at him, blue meeting blue, and smiles. “Thank you for being here.” 

He kisses her one last time before she heads into the house. She begins putting more drinks into the cooler and walks around the counter island and looks at the array of food spread out. 

She picks out tiny little sandwiches and cookies to put on a tray to take outside when the back door opens and Violet walks in.

Violet tugs on Laurel’s skirt to get her attention. “La-La, can I get changed?” Laurel looks down at her and takes the towel that Violet is clutching onto and wraps it around her. 

“Okay, how about a quick bath and then we can put your birthday dress on.” She lifts her up and hikes her up on her hip. Violet clings on and twirls Laurel’s hair with her finger.

“You having fun so far, cutie?” Violet smiles her big smile, her crater dimples coming through. “I’ll take that as a big, big, big yes.” Laurel squeezes her, causing a big giggle from Violet.

They walk through the halls of the house and right before she can get to the stairs there’s a knock at the door.

Laurel looks at her phone for the time. It’s kinda late, the party started at 12 and it’s 3 pm but Laurel isn’t gonna hold that against anyone. Frank is always late to things.

Violet is still in a giggle fit when Laurel swings the door open.

A young woman with a birthday bag in her hand looks up at her. She looks over at Violet and a smile spreads across her face. 

“Hi, are you, um, here to pick up a kid. They’re in the back an-” The woman cuts Laurel off and shakes her head. “No, I’m here to see her.”

Laurel furrows her brows together. Maybe it’s an aunt that Laurel hasn’t met before or a family friend or…

The woman reaches out her arms at Violet but Laurel pulls back. “Baby, come to mommy.”

And it hits Laurel like a freight train. The woman tries to reach out for Violet back again but this time Laurel steps back and shakes her head. “Frank…” 

Laurel surprises herself when her voice carries throughout the house. “I don’t think you should be here.” But the woman is insistent and she begins to step into the house. Laurel yells again for Frank and this time he comes running. 

“What’s up babe, I was grilling and Annalise heard you cal- calling.” The second he sees the woman he pulls Laurel behind him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” 

Laurel watches as Frank’s anger escalates. It’s the fastest she ever seen him get angry. The woman doesn’t answer at first but Frank asks again, louder this time. 

“What the HELL are you doing here!?” Violet jumps in Laurel’s arms when he asks this time and she buries her face in Laurel’s shoulder. 

“I want to see my daughter.” Frank pulls at his beard, something he does when he’s frustrated. 

“Leave, Stephanie.” 

He says it so calm and so collected, it scares Laurel more than when he was yelling. But the woman, Stephanie, she stands her ground. And it’s like a stand down, the two of them eyeing each other. 

Frank turns over to Laurel. “Go take her upstairs, I’ll handle this.” Laurel follows his eyes to Stephanie and turns to go up the stairs.

She carries Violet up the stairs, the little girl still hiding.

—

After Violet’s bath, Laurel takes her outside the long way and lets her play. Frank and Stephanie are in the kitchen and she can see them. Frank is animated, the two of them arguing and she can tell. 

Her heart hurts. And she can tell Annalise and Bonnie are both on edge too. They all make occasional eye contact, worry in their eyes. But the three of them keep fake smiles plastered onto their faces.

Violet was clingy to Laurel at first but now she’s out playing with Asher and eating little cookies. Laurel keeps her eyes on Violet, today is not the day to have all this drama. 

She doesn’t know much about Violet’s mom. Only little pieces of information of that woman ever came out and only if she broke Frank down a bit. All she knew was that she was absent, left when Violet was 3 months old and never came back. Frank was heartbroken but kept it together for his daughter. No birthday presents or Christmas cards, no calls, nothing. 

For her to show up three years later was shit. And Laurel wasn’t going to sugar coat it. She hated this woman for leaving. 

The sound of glass shattering made everyone jump. All the guests turn to look at the house and Laurel can see the fear in Violet’s eyes when she looks over at her. 

Laurel jumps to her feet and heads into the house. She finds Frank frantically trying to clean up the broken plate and Stephanie leaning forward on the counter. Laurel touches Frank’s arm and he looks at her, his eyes frantic but then they soften.

“Maybe, this conversation could be held somewhere else.” Her voice is soft and Frank responds positively to that. Stephanie looks over to her and shakes her head. 

“I want to see her, Frank. You can’t keep her away from me.” Their eyes meet and Laurel realizes how much Violet and this woman look alike. 

“I told you, you can’t just show up and expect to see-”

“Daddy, La-La…” The tiny voice halts the conversation and Laurel looks down. Violet has a thumb in her mouth and the flower crown on her head tilted to one side. Laurel notices how Stephanie moves closer to Violet. 

“Hey baby…” 

“Don’t talk to her. Laurel, can you take her outside?” Laurel takes Violet’s hand and begins to lead her out but Stephanie is at Violet’s side before they can walk out. She grabs her shoulders and turns the little girl to face her, Laurel tries to pull her back.

“Baby, I’m your mommy. Please…” 

Violet pulls back and reaches up to Laurel and she picks her up. Stephanie looks at them, her face turning red. 

“No, no…” Violet begins yelling as she fists Laurel’s shirt, the tears begin flowing when Frank starts yelling at Stephanie. 

“No, La-La is my mommy, NO!” 

All the adults go silent and Laurel feels like the ground beneath her is breaking.


	9. Chapter 9

“You blow and make a wish.” 

Violet lifts her finger up, pauses, and then blows the tiny eyelash off of her finger. 

“You got two wishes today.” Frank tickles Violet until she’s just a fit of giggles; Laurel watching from Violet’s bedroom doorway. 

They got her ready for bed together and the whole time they had to have a conversation with her. Laurel was firm in making sure Violet knew that she wasn’t her mom and that she wasn’t allowed to call her that. And after some patience and careful wording, the two of them tried their best in explaining who Stephanie was. 

Laurel knows that most of it probably doesn’t make sense to her but trying doesn’t hurt. Frank was more hesitant, treading through the conversation as if he was on thin ice and that it would break any minute. 

Stephanie, before she left heartbroken, was adamant about seeing Violet. 

_“I’m sorry I left but I’m here now and every daughter needs a mother in their life.”_

And that’s when Laurel saw Frank break, she saw the fight leave his eyes, and he just shrugged his shoulders and told her, “Maybe, we’ll see.” 

Because Stephanie was right and Laurel wasn’t that mother-figure for Violet. Well, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be that for her anyways. 

She didn’t want to break this little girl’s heart or her dad’s. She never thought Frank would have to be a package deal. 

“La-La…” Violet looks over to her and holds out her arms, awaiting her goodnight hug and kiss. Laurel walks over and sits down on Violet’s bed next to Frank. 

She leans over and gives her a tight little hug and kisses her forehead. But Violet has other ideas and crawls into Laurel’s lap and tucks herself into a little ball. “I love you La-La.” 

She looks over at Frank and she knows what he’s feeling. Knows that after everything today that Frank is just an emotional mess. She can see it in how he watches them.

“I love you too, Vi. Happy birthday.” She pets down her downy soft hair and kisses her head again. Violet crawls out of her lap and moves on to her dad, tells him the same thing, and finally settles in bed. 

They tuck her in, give her last goodnight kisses, and walk out into the living room. 

Frank doesn’t hesitant to pull out his scotch and starts to pour it into a glass. 

He downs it so fast, she can’t even tell if he even poured a drink at all. He pours himself another drink and sits down on the couch. She can tell his body is heavy and he slumps forward, taking a few gulps from his glass.

She walks over to him and pulls the drink out of his hand and sets it on the coffee table. She sits in his lap, straddling him and wraps her arms around his neck. 

She can almost feel the tension leave his body as she plays with his hair. Frank looks up at her, his hands go straight to her hips and his thumbs begin to rub small circles. They stay like this for a little while, in their own quiet, perfect bubble. 

Laurel leans forward, her lips grazing Frank’s. It’s slow at first but their kissing grows, more frantic and persistent. Their hands are hurried, Laurel automatically shirtless in a matter of seconds. 

He picks her up and flips them so that he ends up on top of her. The couch. Laurel giggles, they’ve been in worse places she has to admit. 

“I don’t know what I would’ve done today without you.” Frank says as he nibbles on her collarbone, making his way down to her breasts. 

“You know what Vi asked for for her birthday?” Frank looks up at her suddenly, stopping and pulling himself back up to face her. “Hmm?” She hums, playing with his hair again.

“A baby brother or sister.” He watches her carefully and Laurel tries not to react. “Let’s make one.” 

He says it like it’s nothing, like it’s not going to affect her. Like he doesn’t know how she feels about that subject. 

“I can’t…” 

She sits up, forcing him to sit up as well. They’re a mess as they untangle their bodies from each other. 

Laurel starts pulling on her shirt again, adjusting her clothes and tries not to look over at Frank. 

“Is this how it’s gonna be every time?” She surprised with how rough his voice sounds, something feral and angry. She doesn’t answer and instead fixes her hair, still not looking at him. 

Because she knows he probably looks like a wounded animal. 

“So you’re not gonna answer? Figured.” And she can sense his frustration with her. “You can’t just ignore me Laurel. Why is it that everytime I ask you about kids you shut down?”

“Look at me.” She feels him pull on her arm, forcing her to turn towards him. His eyes are surprisingly soft, calm even but his voice and the pressure he puts on her arm says another thing. 

“Please, tell me why you don’t want them. You love Violet enough, why is that any different?” She hesitates, wants to tell him everything and every reason why but she doesn’t. Instead she replies with, “I can’t.” 

And that’s enough for Frank. He stands, throwing his arms up animatedly in the air and stalks off. But before he does, he turns back to her. 

“Then why the hell are you still here? Why are you pulling my kid along like you’d actually want her?” His voice rises in volume. Each word stabbing her.

“I-I don’t know, I care about her Frank.” She raises her voice too. She gets up and picks up her bag and walks towards the front door. 

“You’re just gonna leave? Just like that? You can’t drag her around and just leave her!” Frank’s on her tail and he is full on screaming now. In the moment neither of them care that a little girl is sleeping in the other room. 

“I’m not dragging her around.” “You are. You don’t get to just leave anymore.”

“She’s not my kid, Frank!” And that’s the problem. Violet isn’t her kid.

“La-La? Daddy?” The tiny voice can barely be heard but it’s there. They both turn to the direction where it’s coming from and see Violet. 

“Are you leavin’?” Violet asks Laurel, shuffling towards her. But Frank picks her up before she can get there. “C’mon pumpkin, I’ll tuck you back into bed.”

But she starts failing and squirming in his arms. “I want La-La to do it! I want La-La!” She screeches and Frank struggles to control her. “No, daddy is gonna tuck you in bed. La-La can’t do it anymore.” 

Frank looks at Laurel and she knows what that means. Flashes of deja vu hit her all at once. The fighting. The screaming. And eventually her leaving him without a real goodbye.

She wipes the tears off of her cheek and tugs her bag on her shoulder and heads out the door, she only turns back once to see Violet looking back at her. 

 


	10. Chapter 10

“La-La! Wake up! La-La, time to wake up!” Laurel feels herself being jostled awake, the smell of pancakes filling the air. 

Tiny hands are shaking her to wake her and Laurel finally opens her eyes. Frank’s standing next to the bed, a plate of perfect strawberry pancakes in his hand. Violet is playing with her hair and snuggles into her.

The sun is shining in through the shades and it’s so cozy in their bed; Laurel feels like she could stay in it forever. 

The smile on Frank is bright and cheerful and he greets her by saying good morning and kissing her forehead. And everything is perfect, she’s back in her perfect little bubble. 

Then Violet opens her mouth but nothing comes out. Laurel struggles to hear what she’s trying to say and she feels like she’s being tossed around. Finally Violet speaks. 

“Laurel, Laurel! Laurel!”

She jerks forward in bed, sweat dripping down her face. Michaela’s sitting next to her, worry in her eyes. “You had a nightmare, again.”

Laurel wipes away the combination of sweat and tears from her face and curls back into bed. She hears Michaela sigh. “Don’t make me drag you out of bed again. You can’t just mope around.”

It’s been a few weeks since Laurel’s officially left Philly, and Frank and Violet. And every second feels like hell; even worse than six years ago. Michaela has taken up the duty to come and check on her every couple hours to make sure she’s still alive. But Laurel knows that she’s becoming more and more frustrated by the day.

So Laurel sits back up and pulls her hair back into a messy bun. “Okay, I’ll go to the office today.” 

“Actually you can’t.” Michaela holds up a file that Laurel never noticed before and hands it to her. “It’s that Philly case you said you would work. And I know you’re still getting over,” She pauses and picks her words carefully, “Whatever it is you’re getting over but you promised you’d take the case.” 

Laurel flips the file open and reads a few things before she realizes what case it is. A young mom trying to gain custody of her kid after getting arrested for defending herself from her abusive husband. She can’t say no.

“Okay.” But Laurel’s never dreaded anything more than flying back to Philly.

—-

The bell rings above the door, notifying everyone in the tiny little cafe that someone has walked in. Laurel looks up from her muffin and coffee to see if it’s her client. It’s not.

She knew her client was going to be late and she didn’t mind having to wait. It gave her more time to look over the file and case again to make sure everything was going to go as planned. 

But as luck would have it, nothing ever went as planned for Laurel Castillo. 

“Hey, Laurel.” 

She looks up thinking it’s her client but instead she’s met by the woman who gave Violet her deep blue eyes. Stephanie.

She doesn’t know what to do. Run? Not without making a scene and Laurel wasn’t one to run from her issues, or maybe she was. So she just froze.

“Can we talk?” Without saying a word, Stephanie just invites herself to sit down in front of her. The two of them sit there for a few seconds, tension soaking the air. 

“She misses you.” Laurel finally looks up at her; Stephanie’s voice is softer and kinder than the last time she saw her. “I mean, they both do, but Violet really misses you.” And Laurel’s mind goes a hundred miles an hour because that means that Stephanie has been able to see both Frank and Violet.

“You probably think I have no right to say anything to you but hear me out?” Laurel pushes her muffin away from her, her stomach churning. “I-I left for a real reason okay.” Laurel chokes out. She can see how Stephanie reacts to that, knows that she means that she left for a good, real reason.

“I left for a good reason too. I was young, a law student, and I didn’t think I’d get pregnant by my boss.” She spits the last part out like the words are poison. “I would’ve taken her with me, but I’ve never seen him love anyone as much as he loved her since…” She trails off looking at Laurel. And Laurel’s not stupid, she knows what she’s gonna say.

He’s never loved anyone as much as he’s loved her. 

“I wasn’t anything special, you know we heard about you. Frank’s girl. No one could compare to you. He was so broken when I met him and I thought, I thought that maybe I could help him but he’s always loved you.” Laurel shakes her head and stops her. 

“I didn’t want to hurt him.” Stephanie just nods and shrugs. “I don’t know why you left the first time, he never told me. But this time, is it because of Violet? My own daughter loves you more than she loves me. I guess the Delfinos really have a thing for you.” 

And Laurel actually laughs for the first time in what feels like forever because it reminds her of something Frank’s said to her. Stephanie laughs too and it’s like they’re friends bonding over the same thing. 

Laurel realizes how much alike she and Stephanie are; she knows what she went through. 

“So, why’d you leave? I left to go make a name for myself, so I knew I could take care of my kid and I come back and well, you also came back.”

Laurel hesitates. Other than Michaela no one else knows that real reason she had to leave Frank. But seeing as Stephanie isn’t so threatening and she doesn’t know what it is but she trusts her. 

“Frank’s always wanted kids,” She starts off and Stephanie nods, encouraging, “I guess I did too and I went to my OBGYN, to make sure everything works and I-” She can’t say it, it’s so touchy because Laurel wasn’t always one to want kids. She grew up in the worse household and she never wanted to be like her parents. Laurel just wanted her career and that would be it. But then, then she met Frank and almost immediately after they started dating she could see herself with maybe one or two even three kids. 

She takes a deep breath and continues. “I can’t, physically have kids. A low ovarian reserve or something like that. It makes it almost physically impossible to have get pregnant a-and,” Her voice breaks and surprisingly Stephanie grabs her hand and squeezes it. “So I left, because I couldn’t do that to him. I thought it’d be a clean cut.” 

“You should tell him. He loves his daughter but if you never left, he would’ve picked you over anything.” And she says it seriously and they both know it’s the truth. 

Laurel wipes the sudden tears off of her cheeks and sniffs. It’s like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. She hasn’t talked about this in years and Michaela was the only one who knew, which if she was being honest was difficult in of itself. Michaela was never a kid person either and only sympathized with her. 

“Besides, you’re so good with Violet. You’re basically her other mom and I don’t mind sharing.” Laurel’s feels like her heart is going to explode. The woman sitting in front of her, the one she used to loathe for leaving Frank with his daughter, isn’t who she thought she was. Kind, sweet, smart, more like Laurel than she ever thought she would be. 

That’s why Frank liked her. 

“It’ll be different. Frank doesn’t want to see me again.” Stephanie laughs and shakes her head. “He wants nothing more than to see you again. Trust me. Just give him a call, maybe just meet up with him without her. I’ll take her somewhere.” 

Laurel can’t help but smile. They could be friends, real friends. And she’s surprised by it. 

So while they exchange numbers, the bell above the door rings again, her client rushing in. Stephanie gets up, grabbing her things and before she leaves she gives Laurel one last, knowing look and leaves her.

“I’m sorry I’m late, I had it all planned out what time I needed to get here but I missed the bus.” Her client settles into the seat that Stephanie had just been in. 

Laurel smiles at her. “Don’t worry about it, sometimes things happen that we never expect.”


	11. Chapter 11/ Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is in two parts. This first part is in Frank's POV.

It’s been hard. 

Harder than the first time she left. 

Violet has it worse. She asks for her almost single day and at different times of the day. At this point, it’s been over 2 weeks, Violet’s resorted to just wishing she was there. 

“Daddy, I wish La-La was here for breakfast.” Or, “La-La loves painting too, daddy.” 

And he would just sigh, give her a smile, and remind her of something else. And usually it works. Her little three-year-old mind wanders off to whatever she had been doing and she doesn’t mention Laurel again.

But other times, most times, it doesn’t and Violet is sometimes so frustrated to the point of tears that Frank won’t tell her where Laurel has gone and why they haven’t seen her in so long. 

And it’s his fault. Letting Laurel back in too soon, letting her be apart of something he knew she was scared of too quickly. And letting Violet get attached to Laurel like she had was probably the biggest mistake. 

He notices how Violet can’t seem to latch onto Stephanie the same way. It’s almost like the same blood doesn’t flow through them and Stephanie can sense it too. Frank finds himself constantly telling Violet not to mention Laurel around Stephanie. 

Because it’s a obvious hurt that Stephanie tries to hide when she’s mentioned. Just the same as it was about 4 years ago whenever he did the same thing. 

But they’re all working past it. Stephanie comes around once a day to see Violet. Violet actually interacts and plays with Stephanie now, no longer hiding behind Frank or the couch. And Frank, well he’s working on it. 

He can’t believe he thought it would be different this time. Watching Laurel and Violet, it felt different, not like when she was with his nieces or nephews. Like she actually could stay- like she wanted to stay. 

But he was wrong again. 

And now backtracking and finding his footing was so much harder with a little kid but he was doing it, one step at a time.

So when Violet wakes him up this morning, he decides to take it as it comes. 

“Daddy, daddy, I letted her in.” 

He jolts up, he wasn’t expecting that. “Who, baby, who’d you let in?” He jumps out of bed and lifts Violet up into his arms, holding her tight. He slowly starts to realize that she’s probably let Stephanie in, the smell of coffee wafting into the room.

“You know you aren’t allowed to let anyone in without me lookin’ first.” But Violet is covering her mouth with her little hands and giggling uncontrollably in his arms. Frank stops walking, standing in the middle of his room and looks at her. “What’s so funny little girl? I’m serious, you can’t just open the door for anyone.”

He tries to make a serious face but Violet’s giggles just grow as she’s still trying to cover her mouth with her fisted up hands. He laughs too, short and breathy, and a little confused. He begins to walk again and makes his way into the kitchen, stopping short when he sees the back the figure making coffee. 

“Surprise daddy! It’s La-La!”   
–

Violet throws her hands up in the air, her excitement ten-fold. But Frank isn’t at all excited or happy. He puts Violet down on the ground and shakes his head. Laurel slowly turns around, like she’s afraid to face him.

“What the fuck?” He thinks he says it in his head, but one look at Violet and he knows he’s said it out loud. 

“You said swear word! Daddy, you said swear word!” He looks back down to her and sighs. “Sorry pumpkin, you wanna go play in your room?” 

Before the answer even leaves her mouth, her lips have turned up into a pout and she crosses her arms. “No, I wanna stay with La-La.” Violet turns and heads over to Laurel. But instead of Laurel bending down and picking her up or keeping her at her side, she leans forward and looks at Violet. 

She tucks one of Violet’s lost curls back behind her ear and beams at her. Silently, she asks Violet to go play in her room, that she wanted to have a grown-up talk with Frank, and that they would get her as soon as it was over. 

And Violet listens. But before she walks over to her room, she turns to face Laurel. “Are you gonna go away again? It was too long.” It’s the first time Laurel actually makes eye contact with Frank while she’s been here. 

“I-I don’t know, that’s what me and your daddy are gonna talk about.” And she surprisingly takes that answer.

Violet makes her way back to her room and only stops once to look at her dad to say, “She can stay, daddy.” And with a satisfied look on her face, shuts her bedroom door.

Frank turns back to Laurel. She feels like a ghost, seems like she’s not there. 

“Hello.” 

She bites her lip- that stupidly adorable bad habit she has. But Frank realizes where they are again, how she’s come back, again. 

“I can’t keep doing this.” 

It’s so harsh, his words taut, his jaw clenched. He ignores the feelings of dread and hurt that he has, the anger taking up the space. Laurel doesn’t say anything, which only makes him angrier. “You can’t just keep leaving and expect me- us to take you back.” 

“I’m sorry…” He holds out his hand to shush her. “No. Fuckin’ hell Laurel, you know how shitty it’s been since you left? How confused Violet’s been?” His anger is building and building until he notices her tears, fat and heavy, rolling down her cheeks.

 And just like that, his anger crashes in a crescendo. He’s still angry, but he’s not going to yell anymore.

He takes a deep breath. “What do you want Laurel?” She’s wiping her tears away and trying to quietly sniffle- she puts on a face, that one that she puts on when she’s trying to be brave, the one that he’s seen whenever she was around Annalise or Bonnie. The face that told him that she wasn’t ready to go into battle but at least she’d look the part. 

“I-I need to explain to you why I left.” “‘Cause of Violet…” 

“No, six years ago.” He shuts up. He searches her face for any sign of what’s about to come but it’s stone cold, aside from her tear stained cheeks. 

She takes a deep breath in, like she’s about to jump into a freezing cold lake, and keeps her eyes on him. “I can’t have kids.” 

Frank furrows his brows together and just looks at her. “You wanted kids and I-I physically can’t have them. So I left.” Her voice cracks at the end; her hands are trembling and he can tell that she’s fighting back tears. “That’s why I left you, so you could have…this.” She gestures to the random toys strewn about on the kitchen floor. 

And it clicks.

 All those sleepless nights, where he would stay up at night racking his mind of what he did wrong. Trying so hard to fight off the demons that maybe she left because of who he really was, or that she finally realized how he couldn’t provide for her like some random heir to a fortune could. Or that she simply just wasn’t in love with him anymore. 

And for her to suffer silently killed him. 

“I would’ve picked you.” He starts, taking a small step towards her. “I would’ve loved you and you would’ve been enough. You are enough.” It’s true. Frank knows that if she had just told him, he would’ve changed all his plans for her. “But look how happy you are with Violet. I wanted  _this_  for you.” Her voice is still shakey and her arms are now defensively crossed across her chest. 

And he’s about to tell her how he would’ve picked her, how he would’ve given it all up, but then he glances back at her daughter’s bedroom door and realizes how right she is.

 Laurel is always right. 

It would have been gradual, he would’ve picked her but his longing for kids would’ve reared it’s head one day. And maybe she would’ve still stayed, or she would’ve left- keeping secrets and hiding the truth. 

Violet was meant to be in his life. But so was the woman standing in front of him now. 

They stand in silence for a few seconds and then Laurel turns to leave. “I just wanted you to know. I’m sorry.” And she’s heading to leave but Frank’s chasing after her and gently grabs her arm. 

“Where ya going?” He asks, his voice so soft and a little hurt that she’s just going to leave again. “I thought-I thought you’d hate me.” Her bottom lip quivers and Frank’s heart shatters. 

“I love you. You didn’t do anything wrong, you didn’t need to leave.  _We_  love you, Laurel. Ya gotta stay, please.” 

And it’s like glass shattering when Laurel finally breaks down. Frank has to catch her before she falls to the ground, her tears falling quickly, and her chest heaving. They both end up sitting on the hardwood floor of the kitchen, Frank’s arms protectively wrapped around Laurel as she cries. 

He just continuously places kisses on her hair, on her forehead, on her shoulder, everywhere and anywhere because he wants her to know how much he truly loves her.


	12. Chapter 11/ Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part II of Chapter 11, back in Laurel's POV.

She ends up falling asleep on the couch. 

She cried so hard and so much that she tired herself out. The last thing she remembers is Frank whispering all these things to her. About how much he loves her and how she never has to leave. 

Her chest feels heavy but her heart feels light. It’s confusing. But she guesses it has to be. All her secrets are out and Frank still wants her. 

She rolls over in the couch and suddenly meets the crystal blue eyes of a smiling little girl. 

“She’s been waiting there the whole time, waiting for you to wake up.” She hears Frank’s voice in the kitchen. 

He has his apron on and the sudden smell of pasta sauce hits her. She sits up on the couch and smiles at Violet.

“La-La,” Her voice is quiet and Laurel pats her lap, motioning for her to sit in it. And Violet doesn’t hesitate. She climbs up into her lap and sits to face her. Violet’s tiny hand quickly goes to Laurel’s disheveled hair and begins to twist and twirl it between her fingers. 

“Are you leaving again?” 

There’s a desperation on her face, every tiny feature scrunching up. Laurel places a hand on Violet’s back and begins to rub small circles. “No, I’m not leaving anymore.” 

And out of nowhere Violet starts crying, soft and strained crying. Laurel’s face twists into confusion then concern all at once. 

She looks up at Frank and his expression matches hers as he walks over. “What’s wrong Vi?”

Violet doesn’t answer, her crying getting louder. Laurel’s mind starts going to all sorts of places. 

Did she say something wrong? What if Violet actually doesn’t want her to stay?

But then the little girl calms down and wipes her tears away. She sits up straight and takes Laurel’s face in her chubby hands and Laurel is all but forced to look at her. “You’s gonna be my mommy now?” 

Laurel lifts her eyes up to look at Frank. And there she finds comfort. She can read his face. There’s no expectation, no push to answer Violet one way or another, just pure love and understanding. Understanding that however she chooses to answer, he’ll still love her.

“You can marry my daddy, so you can stay forever.” Violet sniffs, letting go of Laurel’s face and turning to hold her dad’s hand. 

“Maybe,” Laurel picks her words carefully. “We’ll have to see. I don’t know if I could be with your dorky dad forever.” She teases. Frank feigns being offended and Violet snickers. 

But then Laurel turns back to Violet and kisses her forehead. “But no matter what, I’ll always be here, for you, forever. Okay?” 

She holds out her pinky and Violet does the same, they pinky promise and Violet grabs her hand and holds it. “‘Kay, La-La.”

Laurel smiles. She’s back in her perfect little bubble, with her perfect little…family.

—

_I love you._

He says it after they finish dinner. He’s washing dishes, Violet’s drying, and she’s putting them away. He bumps her hip and whispers it in her ear.

He says it again when they get Violet ready for bed. 

She’s extremely hyper tonight and bathtime was a mess. It takes the two of them to pull her Little Mermaid nightgown on and wrestle her into her bed. Laurel reads her a story and tucks her in. 

When they kiss her goodnight and tell her they love her, Frank looks straight at Laurel. 

They end up in the living room, chucking toys in a pink toy bin and laughing when Frank trips over one of Violet’s dolls. 

They put the apartment back together, working in tandem. She watches him sit Violet’s barbies and baby dolls on the shelf and how carefully he does it. “I love you.” She tells him, wrapping her arms around his waist when he stands up. 

And afterwards, when they’re in bed together, Frank makes sure she knows how loved she is. 

He kisses his way down her body, making careful work to not miss an inch. When he finally reaches that bundle of nerves, his tongue makes languid, slow strokes. It’s like he spells the three words out. I. Love. You. 

Her back arches and she reaches down to fist his hair, trying to hold on to something, anything. This, this is love making. It’s always been harder, faster, and carnal- filled with love but always energetic. 

But this, going slow, taking their time, re-learning each other’s bodies- it sends electricity throughout Laurel’s entire body. 

There’s no doubt, not a single one, on her mind that this is where she needs to be. 

So after when they’re just a tangled mess of limbs and skin, Laurel can’t help but watch Frank. 

His breathing is labored and she thinks he’s already fallen asleep. She’s tracing circles on his chest when he cracks one, then both eyes open. 

“Marry me.” He says it like a statement, there’s no question at all. 

Weeks ago Laurel would’ve jumped back, ran, and hid. But laying together like this, she just sighs. “I guess.” 

They share a light hearted laugh, but Frank rolls his eyes at her. “I mean if I pinky promised Violet that I’d be here forever, I guess it’d make sense to just stay with her dorky dad too.” 

He rolls his eyes again at her but still leans down to kiss her. Their lips linger on each other for a little while before they pull apart. Frank closes his eyes again. She relaxes her body into his and they finally settle in for the night.

Frank’s already fallen asleep in a matter of minutes but he subconsciously pulls her in tighter to his body. 

Laurel’s heart is filled and she falls asleep, smiling because she knows that tomorrow is just another hello to the two people in the world she loves the most.


	13. Chapter 12/ Epilogue

_2 Years Later…_

Laurel wakes to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes and brewing coffee. She stretches out and feels that the other side of the bed is empty and cold. 

She can only guess that Frank is the one making the pancakes, but when she focuses in, there’s many voices outside of their bedroom door. 

“It’s one thing about the case, after that I won’t bug her.” She can hear Michaela’s voice even before she enters the bedroom. She’s looking straight down at a piece of paper and sits down at the edge on the bed. 

“Will you check this real quick?” Michaela doesn’t look up, ignoring the fact that Laurel’s just woken up and not wearing any pants, or underwear. 

“Morning to you too.” 

She says it jokingly as Michaela finally looks up and hands her the piece of paper. She quickly glances at it, tells Michaela that it’s probably admissible in court, and pulls the covers up to her chest. 

“They told me not to bother you and all because of the birthday, but I just wanted to make sure. Thanks.”

And with that Michaela jumps off her bed and heads back out of the room. Laurel takes a peek out and sees the chaos of the day. 

Caleb and Wes are trying to tie string decorations up around the house while Connor and Oliver are blowing up and tying multi-colored balloons. 

The whole group showed up early to decorate for the party and no one bothered to wake her up. It’s probably all of Frank’s doing. He constantly tells her that she does too much nowadays and that she should be allowed to sleep in more. 

She smiles at the thought. 

At least it gives her the time to properly get ready for the day. She takes her time in the shower, and picking out her outfit, and actually doing her makeup. 

When she’s ready, she slips her ring back on and walks out to join the rest of the group. They all greet her and she can’t ignore the determination and frustration in all of their voices as they prepare the house. 

“Mommy!” The sound of feet running on the hardwood stairs is louder than it should be. Laurel turns just in time for Violet to come barreling at her. 

She’s getting bigger and taller everyday and Laurel can barely pick her up sometimes. “I helped Uncle Connor and Uncle Oliver with the balloons earlier.” Violet says, showing off a few balloons in the pile that were either too small or too big. 

“They look great baby,” She brushes back Violet’s hair from her face. By the looks of it, she’s already had a busy morning. 

“Where’s your dad?” Violet sinks back down next to Connor and Oliver and before she starts on another balloon, points to the kitchen. “He’s making the food for the party.”

Laurel leaves the living room, carefully stepping over random balloons and decorations that are on the floor. 

She eventually makes it to their kitchen; Frank’s pride and joy of the house. When it was getting built, this was where all of Frank’s focus went to. 

He’s humming a song while he cooks, his favorite apron on. There’s food everywhere, some that had to be ordered but a lot of it looks like Frank’s made it.

When he finally turns around to face her, he’s smiling. “Hey, good morning!” He walks over to her, forgetting about the food, and wraps his arms around her waist. 

He pulls her in and when she wraps her around around his neck, it only pulls them closer together. Their lips meet in one smooth and solid kiss. 

Laurel smiles against his lips and feels his hands reach down to grab her ass. She gives him a look that causes him to laugh. “What? I can’t grab my wife’s ass in my own house?” Laurel shakes her head at him. 

“Not when there’s work to do.” She motions back to the food. “But,” She adds, placing her hands on either side of his face, “There might be a reward tonight if you do a good job.” 

She kiss him, slowly, taking her time and when she pulls away the hunger in Frank’s eyes is still there. 

They finally pull away though when the smell of burning food hits them. Frank it quickly trying to fix whatever it was that was burning. Laurel lingers for a bit, using her finger to try out all of the different pasta sauces that Frank has out. He doesn’t notice her doing it. 

But when Violet comes into the kitchen and Laurel has her up on the counter trying all of them out too, Frank automatically notices. 

“Hey, hey! You gotta wait like everyone else.” Frank fake scolds. 

But Violet and Laurel just giggle to each other, whispering things to each other like they’re sharing a secret. 

Frank turns back around to give her a stern look but it’s all teasing. “Alright, well if you’re gonna eat everything, why don’t ya come try this sauce here.” He lifts Violet up and carries her to the pot that’s on the stove. 

He uses a wooden spoon for her to taste. “Yummy! I think it’s the best!” Violet hugs her dad and Frank begins to twirl her around.

Laurel can’t contain her happiness when she watches them. 

In the past two years, everything has been nothing but happy. There was struggles sure but once they figured it all out, it was easy. 

Michaela and Laurel decided that New York was too far and moved the firm to Philly. She and Frank decided to do a small wedding, with all their friends and family and of course Violet was very involved.  

Annalise retired the following year, saying that she would help the girls settle their place in Philly.

It’s been an easy transition and Laurel couldn’t picture her life being anything else. 

Frank is still dancing with Violet and grabs for Laurel’s hand. He pulls her in and they all begin dancing together, whirling around and Violet is squealing. The three of them laughing so hard and getting so dizzy. 

But the moment is interrupted when Connor walks into the kitchen. “Hey, yeah sorry, your monitor is going off and it’s not mine.” 

Laurel and Frank give each other a look before Laurel nods. “Yeah, I got it. Frank, you just focus on our multitude of pastas.” She starts to make her way towards the stairs again but Violet is on her heels. 

“Can I come too!?” Laurel pulls her up. “Of course, Vi. C’mon.” 

They walk back into the living room, Connor heading back to blowing up more balloons, and begin to head up the stairs. 

They’re both quiet as they walk down the hallway. The second Laurel opens up the door though the sounds of a crying baby hits them. 

She turns on the lights and a pair of big blue eyes greet her- wide and teary, but the second they meet her eyes, they light up.

Violet wiggles out of her arms and runs up to the crib and begins to coo at him.

Laurel just watches, the baby reaches out to Violet and touches her face. Everytime he sees her, he calms right down. 

“Baby brother…” Violet whispers to him and she’s basically climbing over the railing of the crib in order to see him. 

Theo was a surprise- more like a miracle. He was never planned but came into this world as the best surprise to both Laurel and Frank.

She had cried, the first time the pregnancy test came back positive. She yelled at Frank, told him that it was a lie and that they needed a real test to make sure. And sure enough after getting a blood test, Laurel found out that she was pregnant. And then she and Frank both cried. 

And it’s been a year since he was born and Laurel still can’t believe that he’s here right now, being unconditionally loved by everyone, especially his big sister. 

Once Theo’s done crying, Laurel walks up to the two little rascals and she first kisses the top of Violet’s head. 

“You’re such a good big sister Vi, especially on his birthday.” Violet smiles up at her and then at Theo. 

Then Laurel turns her attention to her son. He reaches up for her and Laurel immediately picks him up. He starts cooing at her and then starts playing with her hair, twirling it around in his fingers. 

She gives him eskimo kisses and tickles him, causing him to giggle- which sounds just like Violet’s laugh. 

Suddenly Frank appears at the doorway and he’s leaning up against the frame, watching his family. 

Laurel turns her body to face him and she picks up Theo’s little hand and waves it at Frank. 

“Hello. Say hello to daddy.”

And Frank walks up to them laughing and embracing them all in a giant hug- Laurel feeling her heart swell. 

When Frank pulls back, he just gives her a look and turns to look at Theo and says, “Hello.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading my very first multi-chapter! You can find me on tumblr as howtogetawaywithflaurel!


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